NATO accession
Hungary sets new conditions for Sweden
The coalition under Prime Minister Viktor Orban is making its approval of Sweden’s NATO membership subject to certain conditions. photo
© Denes Erdos/AP/dpa
A trip to Budapest – that is the Hungarian government’s latest request to Sweden’s Prime Minister Kristersson. He had previously met with Orban in Brussels for a discussion.
Hungary is the only one of the 31 NATO member states that has not yet ratified Sweden’s accession. Hungary is delaying this because the right-wing populist government says it feels “insulted” by criticism from Sweden about the state of the rule of law.
Kristersson and Orban met briefly on the sidelines of the special EU summit in Brussels. Kristersson told Swedish reporters at a press conference that he had “a good conversation with Viktor Orban.” He left it open when there would be a more in-depth meeting in Hungary. However, the Swede made it clear that he preferred not to travel to Budapest until Hungary had ratified and Sweden had all the ratifications for its NATO membership.
Special session in parliament – without government parties
Hungary’s left-liberal opposition has requested a special session of parliament to ratify Sweden’s accession to NATO, which has now been scheduled for February 5th. Fidesz and KDNP said their parliamentarians would not attend this session. Parliament Speaker Laszlo Köver, a Fidesz politician, had to approve this session because the opposition’s number of votes was sufficient. However, the opposition has no influence on the content of the agenda because Fidesz’s votes are needed to determine it. The actual session of Parliament begins on February 26th.
In view of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, Sweden and Finland applied for NATO membership in May 2022. Finland was welcomed into the alliance as the 31st member at the beginning of April last year.